The Language Of Feet
by CKLizzy
Summary: Dancing. It's about music. About lyrics. It's the language of bodies, touching whereas else they're not allowed to. It's the secret language of feet, talking when voices not dare to tell the truth. - Smacked one shot series
1. One Step Closer

**The Language Of Feet**

Author: CK

Rating: P12

Summary: Dancing. It's about music. About lyrics. It's the language of bodies, touching whereas else they're not allowed to. It's the secret language of feet, talking when voices not dare to tell the truth.

Disclaimer: I make it short this time - neither CSI:NY nor the lyrics of the songs I've used are mine.

Author's Note: Originally, this was only a one shot with the lyrics from "One Step Closer". Now it's becoming a series of some sort. This whole story, or more, one shot series will evolve around dancing.

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One Step Closer - Musical "The Little Mermaid"

The ball the most boring she had ever attended to. And she had to quite a few of these events; spent some good amount of time in big halls with an awful lot of overly dressed-up people and music she didn't like playing. She rarely enjoyed being there, even when she found someone to have a good conversation with.

But this time, not even someone to talk to was there. She had been standing at her cocktail table for what must have been hours, slowly getting tired of the loneliness, and jealous of her colleagues who didn't have to come here. This was only for higher ranks in civil service, and for once Stella Bonasera wholeheartedly hated her position as second-in-command to NYPD's CSI Head Investigator.

The Head Investigator who had of course found a way to avoid appearing here, saying that he had too much work to do, too many reports to write and read. She knew better, of course; this was simply not the kind of event he liked to come to. Actually, she didn't think there was any event he would happily agree to appear at; apart from some smaller birthday parties of their team members. Still, and despite knowing that, knowing _him_, she couldn't help but be a bit annoyed that he had left her alone, with all those people she either didn't know or didn't _want_ to know.

So the surprise she had no idea was coming up right at the moment she had made the decision to leave couldn't have been bigger.

"Don't look that enthusiastic, people could think you're enjoying this," a slightly teasing voice suddenly coming from behind her startled her; but she broke into a smile when she recognized the voice.

"Mac," she said, turning towards her colleague and friend who had just stepped beside her. "I thought you didn't want to come?"

"I didn't _want_ to, yes. And officially, I also couldn't because of all that work. Unfortunately, Sinclair made almost an order of it to appear, so... here I am." Stella couldn't help but laugh at the face he pulled, and then hugged her friend, happy to have him as company.

"You should thank Sinclair, you know," she grinned when they parted. At his questioning glance, she continued, "you won't have to fear my revenge now. For leaving me alone." Mac only chuckled at that.

They stood together in comfortable silence for a short while, watching as people streamed from the dance floor back to their tables after a song had just ended. Stella soon noticed Mac stiffen slightly beside her; and then, all of a sudden, he took her hand and pulled her towards the dance floor. Stella didn't bother to hide her astonishment.

"I didn't know you danced," she commented, finding herself in the very middle of the parqueted area, surrounded by dancing and chatting couples.

"It's either that or talking to people who'd sooner or later bore us with unnecessary discussions," he shrugged as he pulled her close to him, swaying to the first notes of the new song. His female companion huffed.

"Thank you very much," she said, but the amused sparkle in her eyes betrayed the pretended anger.

"You won't believe it, but I prefer dancing over small talk," he offered; however, his expression turned into a groan, followed by a silent apology when he realized that these words hadn't been any better. Stella smiled, shaking her head at him, very well understanding that he didn't include her in the group of people he was talking about indirectly.

_Dancing is a language that is felt instead of heard...  
Just let your emotions tell your body what to do  
See how much a single gesture can reveal_

Still busy with her amusement over friend's adorable clumsiness, she at first didn't really realize that they'd begun to move, to swirl across the floor amidst the other couples. Mac maneuvered her easily and skillfully around several pairs while he was holding her against him, one hand applying light pressure as it lay on the small of her back, the other holding one of hers, entwining his fingers with hers, his thumb stroking the back of her hand now and then.

A feeling grew inside Stella; something she shouldn't feel during a dance with a friend, a dance that shouldn't have anything special about it.

She felt what was happening, saw it. She heard the music, the lyrics. But she didn't understand any of it. She had known Mac for so long, and never before had he done anything like that. She didn't even know he could dance. She thought she knew him, that he wasn't able to surprise her; not in that way, not like this. And yet here they were.

_Soon as you surrender, what's inside will sweep on through  
As the boundaries between us disappear_

Years had passed since she'd first realized that she felt more for Mac Taylor than friendship. But they were friends; they had a line. A line that wasn't to be crossed. She was okay with it; she rather had him as a friend, her best friend, than not at all. And he - well, he didn't see more in her than what they'd once silently agreed on to be for each other; she had always been so sure of it.

Now, however, she began to doubt it. The way he moved with her, the way he held her, how his thumb caressed her hand, ghosting over her skin in the gentlest of touches, and most of all, the way he looked at her - how his eyes held hers, hypnotized her, made her drown in these forest colors of his - this wasn't what a dance between friends should be like. Friends should keep that little bit of distance between their bodies, should chat and laugh together, talk about harmless things. They shouldn't remain silent and forget the world around them while their eyes couldn't get enough of each other.

And yet they got lost in the magic of the moment - the magic of a dance.

_And ev'ry little step / Ev'ry single step / Is one step closer / To saying what you feel_

Pulling or turning away never came to her mind when she saw his face inch closer and his eyes close. She simply let herself fall; into his embrace, the movements of his body, and the caress of his lips, possessing hers in a breathtaking kiss.

Finding a perfect dancing partner was like finding the perfect partner to spend your life with. It was all about rhythm, harmony, symbiosis - feeling. There were many out there who were good, who made an acceptable and enjoyable match. But there was, for every person, always only one being who defined as the _perfect_ match.

As Mac was guiding her over the dance floor, his touch still lingering on her lips, Stella knew she had found her perfect dance partner.

And while his feet moved with hers in this perfect unison, in a language of their own, in his eyes she saw everything neither of them would ever have had the courage to say out loud.

_Dancing is a language that is felt instead of heard  
But it says much more than language ever could..._

FIN


	2. So Close

Thank you, ccs, lily moonlight and Herrera, for your reviews! :)

_Little **warning**: This one's angst-heavy. _

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So Close - Jon McLaughlin _(OST "Enchanted")_

People always showed strange behavior when it came to saying goodbye.

They wished all the best, but with a painful smile that shouted, "Stay!"

They didn't come to the airport or to wherever one was taking off from, saying that they hated goodbyes, they made them sad, when really they wanted to say, "You're selfish and I don't want to see your face when you leave me behind."

They threw parties for the one who was about to leave, saying they wanted to spend one last evening together, make some additional good memories, when what they thought was, "We will make you regret your decision and show you once more what you've decided to abandon."

Most people hated to see friends, family, loved ones, depart. Most people hated changes, and someone suddenly not being there anymore was a big change. Adjusting was hard when, overnight, someone who had always, or at least for a long time, been part of your life puzzle went missing. There was a hole, a gap, something that was by no means filled easily.

For New York's CSI team, it was like this when Stella Bonasera announced that she'd leave to take over the Crime Lab in New Orleans. They all smiled and congratulated, pretended to be happy for her that she finally got some well-deserved career chances. Maybe they even actually were a bit happy for her; but mostly, they were hurt. Stella was a part of the team, the _heart_ of the team, and to them it felt like a betrayal that she had decided to leave. Leave the family they were.

So they threw a party, two days before her departure. On the roof terrace of their office building, on a beautifully warm and sunny day in May, all the people who meant something to Stella came together to show their appreciation for their colleague and friend.

They never intentionally planned to cause her any hurt by this party; unintentionally, however, it was exactly what a human's subconscious mind ordered the consciousness to do - of course by all the while giving much harmless reasons.

It was only a party to honor a leaving friend.

And yet everyone, including and especially Stella, felt that permanent piercing pain that never left throughout the whole evening.

It was Mac Taylor, her friend of so many years, who freed Stella from her brooding over her decision. He took her hand and led her, much to Stella's amazement, to the small area that had been declared to be the dance floor for this evening. Easily they fell into a harmonic rhythm to the soft music playing.

It seemed like the innocent dance of two friends.

But it was so much more.

_You're in my arms / And all the world is calm / The music playing on for only two_

It was the gentle sway of two bodies pressed against each other that didn't dare to touch in any other way. It was the desperate holding on to something that had never started, and was yet about to end. It were two people masking their pain in a longing embrace, one that, for everyone watching, looked like nothing else than a dedication to the music playing in the background. Still, as harmless and normal as it seemed - it lasted longer than it should have to be still as innocent as the dancing couple pretended it to be, was closer than it should have been under these circumstances; everyone paying attention would have noticed that.

However, no one paid that much attention. They saw the couple, but no one gave it a second thought, unconsciously allowing them their privacy.

They all knew it.

_And now forever I know / All that I wanted to hold you / So close_

When rain started to fall, the roof terrace quickly cleared of all people present. Only them, the friends of half a lifetime, didn't care; didn't notice their clothes soaking even more with every passing second.

They ignored the thousand reasons there were to let go; they rather held on to the one reason to _never_ let go.

Raindrops where mingling with the tears rolling down her cheeks, and he kissed them away with wet lips, brushed watery strands from her face with wet fingers, pressed his droplet-covered forehead to hers.

Never let go.

_A life goes by / Romantic dreams must die / So I bid mine goodbye and never knew_

The rooftop was empty, the music had ended, even the rain had stopped, when they finally loosened their hold on one another. Her red-rimmed eyes broke his heart, and the sadness in his look broke hers. The moment of their parting was nearing with demanding inevitability, and they knew that, as much as they would try to hold on to each other, they would still lose the other.

She clung to him, her fingers buried in his soaked shirt, and he framed her face with his hands, the sight of her shaking form, cold from the rain, but more so, in pain because of the nearing farewell, almost unbearable. He couldn't stand it; couldn't stand the thought that the day after tomorrow, she would be gone, more than a thousand miles away, too far too touch, too far to feel, too far to breath in.

He felt betrayed by fate, by himself and his own fears, knowing that he would have had the chance to give her a reason to stay. Maybe, if he hadn't been so afraid to admit to his feelings, she wouldn't leave now.

He would never know.

_Let's go on dreaming for we know we are / So close / And still so far_

His open lips brushed her parted ones, again and again, like the water had made them too slippery to find any hold. Every touch felt like an electric shock, shaking them to their very core, and yet they melted together into a desperate, longing kiss in the end. There was nothing gentle to it, nothing like he would have imagined there first kiss. It was raw passion; it was mourning a loss that was unavoidable anymore.

When she pulled away from him, his lips couldn't stop seeking hers, missing the touch that seemed so familiar and natural already, although they'd never shared it before. But she stopped him, not trusting him, or herself, not willing to cause the both of them any more pain by letting them cross the line that would bring them even closer to each other than they were; had been for so many years.

Tears pooled in her eyes again when she kissed his cheek one last time before walking past him and to the door that led down to the lab, to the exit of this building, out of his life.

Rain started falling again as he stood on the rooftop, watching the door that had closed behind her.

FIN


	3. So She Dances

Thanks to SMACkedHuddy and ccs for your reviews! :)

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So She Dances - Josh Groban

Beautiful.

What he saw was the very definition of pure beauty.

There she was, moving like an elf, gracefully, gently, dreamily, like she'd never done anything else. She was in her own world, lost to everything around her - the people, the noise, the hectic, the chaos. It was just her. Her in a crowded room, and yet, as he was watching her, he saw only her, and nothing else. She, who described the music with her feet, her body, that delicate figure of hers; whose dark curls surrounding her face revealed her lovely features only for seconds now and then, allowing only a brief glance that left him wanting more, so much more.

She was held under the melody's spell, and he - he was under her spell.

_So she dances / In and out of the crowd like a glance  
This romance is / From afar calling me silently_

His eyes searched her desperately whenever she vanished within the crowd, and lit up when she came back into sight; he was at the mercy of her beauty, feeling empty when he couldn't see her, adore her with his eyes. She had a glow about her the light in the room couldn't possibly have competed with; it let her stand out from the crowd and had every single person aware of her moving among them.

Every step she took, every swirl she made, every elegant swing of hand or arm she added, every content smile that appeared on her lips - he couldn't look away, not even for the blink of an eye.

How had he missed it all the time? How didn't he see what was right in front of him? She had been there, all those years, close to him, with him, always at his side. And yet had he never seen her. She had been his friend, his confidant, the person he relied most on, trusted the most, trusted with his life. And now she was the one robbing him of his sanity, as he suddenly saw her with different eyes. One evening, and everything changed.

_I can't keep on watching forever / I give up this view just to tell her_

He didn't realize he had moved until he found himself in the middle of the crowded dance floor, in the middle of countless people, in the middle of a bee stock of dancing shapes. And until she was falling into his arms. He captured her and held her close, feeling the heat and vibration of her body against his, moving with her to the music, while his eyes were caught by hers; orbs of an enchanting blue-green color watching him from under long, dark lashes with a look that made his heart beat faster.

The crowd parted, gave them room as they floated across the floor, holding onto each other, bodies touching, eyes locked, hands entwined. Now that he was with her, he got lost in that secret world of hers, the one that characterized her movements, guided her feet; the one that made him pull her only closer, afraid to ever lose her, that feeling of her again.

No, this would never end; never would they part again. He wouldn't let it happen.

_We've got the floor / And you're in my arms / How could I ask for more?_

They didn't care when the song slowly ended; the melody still in their memory, they continued swaying softly among the stilling crowd, their minds far away, but still together, on a journey showing them what they had in a different, in a new light...

FIN


End file.
